An Unsettling Battle

Erun warped away from the scene of the battle, his mind filled with a sense of disquiet.  The charred remains of an Enyo Assault Frigate fell away behind him, a grim reminder of what may have been a bad decision made in haste.  He'd entered Aubenall to find a neutral Federal Defense Union pilot, Orford, in an Enyo being held down by a Goon, Charles Case, in a Condor, at a nearby Faction War complex.  As soon as he had entered system the Goon had called for help in what he labeled an "easy kill,"  leaving Erun immediately unsure what to do.  He made his way into the complex and made up his mind to aid the neutral FDU pilot, setting his drones on the Goon's Condor as his Algos began to burn towards them. 

So focused was Erun on the Goon's Condor that he didn't see the Enyo target him, only noticing with alarm as his shielding was stripped away by a barrage of blaster fire.  Several seconds of indecision went by before Erun reassigned his drones and began focusing his fire on the Enyo as the Condor soared away from them at kilometers a second.  It didn't take long for the withering hail of fire from his Algos and it's drones to decimate the Enyo, despite what he later learned were numerous repair cycles from an Ancillary Armor Repairer. 

Orford warped away from the remains of his wreck, Erun hadn't targeted the pod - he still didn't like actually killing other capsuleers if he could help it - instead turning his attention to his original target, Charles Case.  He needn't have worried though, as the Condor was more than 100 kilometers away and still going.  Drawing closer to the remains of the Enyo he quickly removed what functional modules and ammunition he could find before he made his way to the Eugales gate for some repairs. Orford had left the system before Erun could ask what happened, leaving him to brood on what had just happened as he made his way back to Intaki. 

Had he acted correctly in this case?  Should he have held his fire and kept his focus on the Condor, risking the destruction of his Algos?  Probably, though his chances of catching the Condor with the Enyo on him were slim.  Should he have just disengaged completely and and allow the Enyo to be destroyed?  He just couldn't do that, his personal code of ethics made that option seem abhorrent.  No, at least Orford was able to go down fighting, rather than being plinked away at by a ship he couldn't reach.  Erun had had enough experience in battles were he was kited out of effective range, and remembered with loathing that feeling of helpless despair as the ship around you was torn to pieces without being able to retaliate.

Conscience a bit clearer, Erun finished docking in Intaki 5-5, discussing the battle with an up late Devan Corvel before turning in for the night.  He still felt a bit uneasy, but less then he had right after the battle, and though he was skeptical, Devan's idea that entire affair had been a set up could have merit...

November in Review

Another busy month, both in and out of combat, though that seems to be a recurring theme in my time with the ILF.  I honestly don't see the pace slowing for a while and that's perfectly alright with me.  I haven't been this engaged since my initial forays into the designs and mechanisms of Tech 2 drone research.

First up is combat, and as I mentioned it was another busy month, with several ups and downs.  I believe this is the first month in which I destroyed more ships than I lost.  I did lose a pod this month after a really close battle where both of us went into deep structure.  But I also had two excellent kills where I managed to destroy assault frigates. I believe this is the first month in which I destroyed more ships than I lost, though just barely. So all in all I'm happy with my combat work for the month.

My industry work is also coming along nicely, I'll soon be going into production on my next project, further lowering the costs of my PvP fittings.  I also expanded my industrial work within the corp itself, bringing some additional flavor to my current offerings.  I'm looking into some more PI work to help me begin production of some of the new deployable structures.  I had this strange idea of deploying the new Mobile Tractor Unit as a sort of communal structure for Corp members using the belts...

Somehow A Good Day, With Help From The Harriers

The eleventh of November was an interesting day to be sure. I started it by joining Suresha Sakaane Eionell and Mahesha Bataav as they began the planned "removal" of a Pilot Owned Customs Office in Vey. Really they should be called COCO's or Corporation Owned Customs Offices, but I digress. I brought the heaviest DPS ship I had available, a blaster fit Dominix, to assist in their efforts. We were later joined by several other ILF pilots, and over the course of the next few hours we continued to bombard the POCO with ridiculous amounts of firepower, hiding as necessary when neutrals and hostiles wandered into system. My personal troubles began as we were nearing the end of our structure grind, when we were scouted by a HYDRA RELOADED pilot flying the limited release Chremoas covert ops. Most everyone got away by the time a small fleet arrived, including Sakaane in her Abaddon, but my Domi was still next to the POCO when my cloak was popped due to proximity and locked down. I was unable to bring any of my considerable DPS to bear on my captors due to their small size and speed, and the end came relatively quickly for my poor Domi. The crew had been ordered to evacuate once I lost control of the warp core, so their losses were minimal, but with a ship the size of the Dominix there were bound to be a few regrettable losses. I was later informed of an interesting fact: aligning with a cloak engaged will still help you get into warp faster, something that had allowed Sakaane to get her Abaddon out before it could be scrambled.
We returned a while later when the coast was clear to finish the job we had started, this time I was flying my lower DPS, but much safer Manticore Stealth Bomber. We quickly tore through the remaining few shreds of the Interbus POCO, and stood by while some of our allies set up their own. All in all a successful operation, despite the loss of my Dominix to my own ignorance, though in my own defense it's not often I fit a cloak to a battleship... 
Over the the next hour or so, members headed planetside for the day, while some remained in and around Intaki. A few of us discussed the upcoming overhaul of many ships and other upgrades to the Neocom in the coming weeks. My biggest concern during this discussion ended up being the Orca Industrial Command Ship I somehow moved into Intaki unscouted, and how the changes to more efficient warp calculations might effect my ability to get it back out again. I queried the vetted Intaki Intelligence channel, wondering if anyone would be willing to help scout me out of lowsec now that my industrial work foe the day was complete. A short time later I a positive response was sent by Hong WeiLoh, so I quickly transferred my pod to the Orca and got the now active-duty crew working on moving all the necessary ships and materials into its holds. Less than 20 minutes later I was undocked from Intaki V-5 on my way to my new hisec mining location, Hong as the vanguard of our small fleet, and another Harrier by the name of Apollo Kids guarding the rear. 
The trip itself was rather anticlimactic in reality, we quickly and efficiently made our way to the nearest high sec entrance to my destination. As I was dropping off the Orca Hong suggested we could go on a patrol after I was done, and I readily agreed, always looking for more action. I made my way back to Intaki to pick up my Algos, and the Harriers met me there before we headed out, Hong in another Algos and Apollo in a Thrasher. We made a loop through the Viriette constellationbefore making our way through the Pegeler constellation where we encountered a small group of TEST pilots in frigates. We scanned them to one of the complexes in the Moclinamaud system and quickly engaged. The Testies scattered as soon s we landed, warping off in multiple directions, but not before we were able to point and quickly destroy a Merlin, and then not so quickly a very well tanked Punisher. We continued on our patrol afterward, as we were averse to sticking around in case the Testies called in reinforcements. Our course took us for a quiet jaunt through the Josmaert constellation before we made our way back to Intaki, I think Hong and Apollo were ready to get some sleep at that point.
I trailed a bit behind, so when Hong and Apollo were on their way to resupply at their bases in Intaki, I was still sitting on the Agoze gate in system when a pirate named Titus Veridius emerged from warp nearby in an Algos. I targeted him and began to burn towards him as he turned and burned away from the gate, my ship letting loose the first salvo once we were out of jump range since he would have been destroyed by the gates defenses had he attacked me. What followed was a brutal fight as we engaged at close range, guns and electronic warfare blasting and blaring between us as our drones viciously careened all around us. My tank must have been just slightly better as my structure was half destroyed before his finally gave way, his pod quickly escaping the twisted wreckage. We both posted "Good Fight" into the local network as I turned my ship to gathering up the remains of his, including the abandoned and confused drones he had apparently purchased from me only moments before he got to the gate.
Hong congratulated me on my solo kill, apologizing that he hadn't made it in time to help, while observing that his fleet boosts as he made his way to me had likely provided that edge I had needed to outlast my opponent. I thanked him for all of his help and company throughout the night before he departed, likely to get some sleep, I think I'd kept him up rather later than his normal operating hours. As for myself, I limped my way back to home base, instructing the repair crews there to take their time getting my Algos put back together, as it was unlikely I would take it out again that night. As I relaxed into the hydrostatic fluid of my capsule to get some rest of my own, I imagined a small smile on my face. Despite the initial setback of the day it had ended on a pretty good note...

October in Review

The month of October was the busiest yet in my activities for the Intaki Liberation Front.  I substantially picked up the pace in my industrial output, producing not only the allowed amount of ships I could for the corp, but several more for myself.  I was particularly proud of the Vexor that I recently built to replace the one I lost at the beginning of the month.  By the end of the month another one of my invention projects came to fruition, allowing me to more easily replace the small ships I was losing. 

Truthfully, I lost more ships in the month of October than at any other point in my five year span as a capsuleer, seventeen ships all in the space of a single month.   Many of my losses were failed attempts at continuing to use the Maulus in one on one engagements, but just as many were Tristans or destroyer losses.  I stopped offering standard crew contracts on my frigates long ago, instead foregoing even the minimal crew necessary.  I would have done the same with my destroyers, but their more complex systems required at least a skeleton crew to maintain.  The loss of a Vexor as the month began would have been a tragic loss of life had I not ordered the ship evacuated as soon as the warp core had been scrambled.  Most of the crew had decided to not extend their contract to the new ship, but a few had retained the right to change their minds at least.  On the flipside of my PvP coin I had the most victories in combat in the ILF for the month, with eight ships destroyed, six of them in solo engagements.  It's something that's starting to fill me with a growing sense of pride, perhaps I'm finally learning to be more confident in my own combat abilities.

Overall I ended the month more than 50 million ISK in the hole, but I still think I came ahead when it comes to the amount of experience I accrued.  I'm learning more about successful PvP every time I undock, and my industrial efforts supporting the economy in Placid are leaving me flush with more ships, materials, and liquid assets then at any other point in my career.  I continue to be eager at what the future of New Eden holds for me...

Hanging With Hong

My day began rather quietly, starting with the normal station-side updating of my planetary production facilities.  The water processing plant in one of the hot equatorial seas of Intaki Prime was one of my favorites to visit due to it's mild - for the Intaki equator - climate.  Admittedly there wasn't much to do but relax and chat with the small staff of the mostly automated facility, the overly warm seas could only support the hardiest of complex organisms, but that was most of the reason he liked it.
 
I roused myself from thinking about my next planet-side visit, and loaded into my favorite Ishkur for a roam of the local asteroid belts to combat the for now ubiquitous Serpentis menace.  The Empyrean conflict raging in and around Intaki provided a lot of possibilities for some of the... less savory types that frequented the system, so armed patrols would be necessary for the foreseeable future.  I eliminated the few Serpentis combat craft I found, marking the escape pods for retrieval by the few firms willing to conduct such dangerous work, many of those within likely being conscripted from space-based colonies in Intaki and outlying systems.  The ships themselves were taken completely apart to recover any useful modules and materials that may have survived their destruction.  Once I completed my rounds I headed back to Intaki V-5 to work on a new Maulus fit.  I'd gotten some tips from some other ECM pilots, and I was going to make it work... and likely die trying!

The local fluid-router announced a new connection in system as I was working, a personal acquaintance of mine, blue to the IPI named Hong WeiLoh.  We'd actually met in person at a recent conference discussing the upcoming improvements to ships, Warp Drives, and other ship systems.  We reminisced on old holovids and novels for a bit before Hong found the near -5.0 pilot Izy L hanging around in a complex near Intaki II.  His encounter with her ended in failure before I could get to him, but he found out she was using a dual-webbing artillery Firetail.  Both of them had warped off by the time I arrived, Hong in his pod and Izy in what I assumed was a damaged Firetail, so I scooped Hong's stuff before heading back to station and putting it up on contract for him.

At this point I undocked and did a scan of the system, notifying Hong after I found Izy at the complex once again.  I then proceeded to the complex on my own, hoping that I could take on an arty Firetail once I got range on it.  As is normal for me though I ended up landing right on top of her then trying to burn away and failing.  Once my pod had bounced off a safe and back to station I was nearly out of her scrambler range with the initial burst from my micro-warp drive.  I told Hong of my failure and he recommended we fleet up to confront her once again.  We both worked on reshipping, Hong in a destroyer and I started on some new frigate fittings.  Hong's hope was that she would finish the novice level complex and move onto one open to larger ships.  At this point we activated voice communications to make coordinating hopefully easier.

We met back up in Intaki, locating Izy still in system, this time in a small complex much to Hong's vengeful glee.  The first time we moved to engage she warped off, likely seeing Hong's destroyer as a greater threat.  We moved in again this time i moved in first to engage, but I was unable to provide enough dps to get through her tank.  She started to wear my Incursus' down as Hong started to warp in, and by the time he landed my ship was in the process of exploding, allowing her to warp away before Hong could engage.  I exchanged a Good Fight with Izy in local before I headed back to station, thoroughly done with PvP for the night.  Hong soon tired of chasing Izy and decided to turn in as well.  He and I exchanged a few more pleasantries, with Hong gifting me the modules he had recovered from my wreck, before he headed home for the night.  I spent a little while rebuilding an Incursus around the recovered modules before turning in for the night as well.

Not a particularly productive day PvP wise, but certainly an interesting one...

A Busy September

The last few weeks had been very busy for Erun, and he'd gotten quite a lot of things done he had not expected to.  The thing that had surprised him the most as the month progressed was simply how much ISK he had been making.  He suffered nominal losses after replacing a ship every time he was unsuccessful in his combat effort, which was a often.  But somehow through his various combat and industrial activities he'd acquired nearly half a billion ISK, more money than he'd made in a month, ever.  The best part in his mind is that he'd been actively engaged and interested in all of his activities, rather than performing them as a necessity as he had been before he had joined the Intaki Liberation Front.

The biggest change for Erun though was that he no longer considered himself what many in the capsuleer community derided as a "carebear," or a pilot whose only purpose was to make more ISK by actively avoiding confrontations with other capsuleers.  He now saw himself as something he had affectionately dubbed a "care-badger," an industrial minded pilot willing to use deadly force to protect his interests.  Personally he thought his combat skills were only getting marginally better as time wore on, but the kill-board seemed to suggest differently.  He found his position at the top of it for the month of September to be particularly startling, assisting in or personally seeing to the destruction of 7 vessels.  In the same time frame he'd lost 8 vessels, many of them Maulus-class frigates that he had decided to stop taking into solo engagements. 

The losses he took while engaged in his combat activities were easily replaced with materials he acquired while combating the local Serpentis menace.  What modules he didn't use for the fittings he had lost were reprocessed into materials he could use to make new ships and modules.  His other industrial efforts had been highly successful, completing several of his personal projects and starting on some new ones.  He'd also worked on some larger scale building projects for the corp that he hoped would help in their efforts to bring peace and civility to the Intaki sovereignty.  More so than ever, Erun looked forward to what the future might bring.

All endings are also beginnings

Phalad Sahantun.  It meant "patient shield" in the language of his ancestral  homeworld, the embattled planet of Intaki.  He'd picked the phrase as his designation upon beginning the training to become one of the new breed of immortal mercenaries being drawn to the battlefields of New Eden.  He was filled with a sense of trepidation as he contemplated his last assignment, possibly his last assignment ever.  As the final act of their old lives, and to complete the process that would turn them into immortal clone soldiers, each candidate had to take their own life.

The purpose behind this act was twofold, the first was to complete the physical portion of their transformation.  Cranial implants which they received at the end of months of mental and physical conditioning were designed to record their consciousness up to the moment of death.  The second, and more important purpose was to test the candidates' willingness to face their own deaths and to overcome that fear.  The form of this test would differ depending on the group or government issuing it, but the candidates were all given a finite  amount of time to perform the final act of their lives. 
Talking with other clone mercenaries had revealed numerous grisly methods.  One had been led into a room with a table, a chair, and a gun.  Another who had also received a chair and table, but was instead greeted by a glass of water and inconspicuous but near instantly lethal medical capsule.  Phalad had even heard tales of a paraplegic who had turned down the gun, instead throwing himself off of a skyway. 

He'd been given the better part of three days to make his decision, and told it would be better if he didn't do extensive damage to his cortex beforehand.   Never being fond of the mind altering, and generally mind damaging substances his peers were fond of, found Phalad wandering the streets reading the latest news on a handheld datapad.  His fascination with the rising tensions between the Gallente and Minmatar almost kickstarted his career as a mercenary, just barely being being able to dodge the speeding vehicle of a joyriding couple.  Thinking to himself as he leaned against a nearby building for support, he realized that he didn't want to lay his life at the feet of someone else.  He'd much rather his death came as a consequence of his own thoughts and actions than someone else's, or worse in his mind, Mother Nature's.  

Returning to his training base, Phalad told his trainers he was ready.  He was led to a blank room with a pill and a glass of water waiting for him.  Leaving a shoe to jam the door open he grabbed the pill and water before turning back around.   Never hearing the door close his escorts had turned around to see him walking back out.  Moving to restrain him they stopped as their eyes glazed over, and upon receiving their new orders they escorted him back to his quarters.  As they left him alone he quietly said to himself, "Suprab Nahi..."  The guard on the left nodded his head respectfully, while the one on right who looked eerily similar simply gave a thin smile before they both turned and walked away.

Slipping out of his remaining shoe and then all but his training shorts, Phalad moved to sit on the side of the cot in his nondescript room.  He grabbed the pill and water the guards had left on the side table and quickly downed them both.  Lying down and folding his arms behind his head, he closed his eyes and fell asleep for the last time, wondering what the future might hold...

Damp Experiments

Erun was nervous, anxious even, to the point where his pod's medical suite had already offered him a mild sedative to soothe his nerves.  The reason for his current state of anxiety happened to surround him in the form of a Maulus-class frigate.  More than the ship itself, it's designed purpose as an electronic-warfare platform was throwing him for a loop, he had literally no experience using e-war modules.  He'd experienced their effects before - range dampening, electronic counter measures, even tracking disruption - for all the good these all did once his drones had a valid target for their aggression.  But he'd been in situations where he'd been unable to give his drones targets and then couldn't bring his own armaments to bear against the offending craft. His continued theory-crafting to improve his PvP had led to thinking about combining his drone expertise with this ability to prevent an opponent from targeting him back.  Taking one more minute to ready himself, he finally undocked from Intaki 5-5 to begin looking for viable targets.

Long range directional scanning quickly resulted in a potential pirate at one of the many faction warfare sites the Empire Navies left scattered across the Viriette constellation.  Erun kept his d-scan running as he approached the site at high warp, identifying the ship in the site as an Imperial Navy Slicer.  He felt some hesitation as he arrived at the acceleration gate into the complex, but quickly gathered himself and broadcast  the activation signal, sending him hurtling towards a possibly violent end. 

As he landed on grid Erun ran a quick background check on the pilot flying the Slicer, a Teens in Jeans with a marginally criminal security status.  They quickly targeted each, with Teens firing the first salvo allowing Erun to engage at will.  The four Hobgoblins he had deployed when he landed immediately streaked towards the Slicer as Erun activated his E-war suite and attempted to get to a longer range.  The Slicer's lasers lanced through his shields while his drones and artillery made quick work of the Slicer's.  His ship began to shake as the minimal armor plating on his Maulus began to ablate under the concentrated hail of laser fire.  The drones had only gone through half of the Slicer's more reinforced armor when his own began to fail, sending structural integrity warnings racing through his mind.  Aligning to the first point on the Escape section of his Overview, he felt the nanofiber enhanced structure collapsing as it ejected his pod into space which quickly reached warp velocity and raced off. 

Erun bounced off his escape point before docking in Intaki 5-5 and attempted to calm his rather frayed nerves, now taking the sedative previously offered by his pod's medical suite.  He offered his congratulations to Teens in Jeans in local and got a "good fight" back.  Erun was curious to know how effective his Dampeners had been and asked Teens, who responded that he'd been reduced to a range of less than 13km.  Teens told him that it had been very close, the drone damage had been "sick" getting him down to 3% of his armor.  Wondering what he could have done better, Erun asked, and was told that if he'd kept past 13 kilometers and kept his speed up he might have won.  Laughing, Teens told Erun he would probably just run the next time he saw a Maulus, and that he'd gotten lucky this time.  Teens soon left the Intaki system, and Erun wrapped up his own business resetting his PI and market orders before turning in for the night...

Several days later...

Mentally sighing in frustration as his pod warped away from yet another lost Maulus, Erun tried to think of what he had done wrong this time.  This would be the fourth Maulus he'd lost this week either due to his own errors, or just landing into a situation he couldn't handle.  His first loss had been his informative battle with Teens in Jeans.  The second he'd been torn to shreds by a nearby Thrasher before he could even get his drones out.  This loss taught him that warping to zero wasn't always a good idea, and that he should immediately start burning away from his target.  He'd unfortunately landed on his target again which resulted in him losing his third Maulus, although this time he'd managed to get away long enough to deploy his drones.  This fourth loss he'd once again been unable to get to a safe range before his opponent's rockets ripped him apart.

Almost unconsciously Erun made his way back to Intaki to fit yet another Maulus, the fitting process itself was relegated to another unconscious part of his mind as he pondered his next course of action.  As his pod was transferred to the newly constructed E-war ship he decided to continue with his current plan of trying until he succeeded.  He'd stopped taking even the minimal crew out with him on his combat roams once he realized he'd be losing so many ships, so he wasn't putting anything at risk he wasn't willing to lose.

Undocking from Intaki 5-5 Erun ran a quick D-scan and found no valid targets so he headed through to Agoze.  The D-scan showed clear but there were numerous valid targets in system, so he headed to Agoze 9-2 which offered him a better "view" of the system.  A nearby faction warfare complex showed activity so he decided to head there, and engaged his warp drive.  As he landed on the acceleration gate he saw a hostile heading into the complex followed closely by a blue named Xander Lehman.

Erun hurriedly broadcast the activation sequence and followed only to be jarred violently as his warp bubble collapsed!  The vector for the attack was determined in an instant and he threw his ship in the opposite reaction as he activated his microwarp drive.  He targeted and damped the hostile vessel, a pilot named Rivika in a Thrasher who turned her attentions to Xander who had begun attacking her.  Erun's drones were launched and sent after Rivika as he closed back into disruptor range.  A quick stock of his bearings showed that the single volley had overloaded his shields, ablated most of his armor, and damaged the struture to the point the ship was barely holding itself together.  As he approached the maximum range of his disruptor and activated it he saw Xander's ship explode under the fire from what he assumed were Rivika's artillery cannons from the alpha damage they were doing.  Bringing his own artillery to bear, Erun began firing on Rivika's Thrasher while keeping his remote dampeners active, rendering her unable to target him.  With the damage Xander had already done to her shields, Erun's drones and artillery fire were able to get through Rivika's defenses and destroy her ship, but he was unable to capture her capsule.

Another hostile ship landed in the complex and Erun pulled in his drones and took his leave, his Maulus was barely holding together as it was.  Once he landed on station he alerted to be ready in case the ship fell apart, he'd already vented the ship's atmosphere to stop several small fires onboard.  Station services dragged the ship to his hangar before they gave him an estimate on the cost to repair it.  He signed off on the estimate without even thinking, waiting the few minutes it took the stations nanonic repair services to put his ship back together.   "Good fight" was tossed in local by all the involved parties, with Rivika lamenting as Erun's damps had left her helpless.

As soon as the repairs were complete he sent his thanks to station services before undocking again and making a beeline for the Intaki gate.  Once on the other side he ran a cursory scan before setting a course for Intaki 5-5 and docking up for the remainder of the night.  He was soon decanted from his pod, toweling off ectoplasm and relaxing on his couch with a warm bowl of ramen in his lap.  As he got up to pull a second bowl out of the commissary unit he called up the schematics for the Maulus, looking to see what he could do to improve it.  Maybe if he swapped out the damage control for another drone damage amplifier... It may have saved him today, but he wasn't supposed to be taking fire in the first place... Or maybe he'd...

Panicked Elation

The hum of the mining lasers thrummed throughout the hull of Erun's Retriever as they chewed their way through a sizable rock composed of Dark Ochre. He'd taken to mining more often after the last Neocom update had included a significant improvement on gravimetric triangulation.  This allowed all capsuleer vessels to quickly find what were now being dubbed, "Ore Sites." The materials available from the asteroids in these Ore Sites had been a major boon to his production of sub-capital vessels and their accompanying modules and ammunition.

A flash in the corner of his eye drew Erun's attention to the ever present local window, two suspects had entered the Intaki system.  Quickly ascertaining their security status, he began aligning his ship back to Intaki 5-5.  Running a directional scan within 14 Astronomical Units of his position gave him the suspects' ship composition, a Rifter and a Griffin.  A small gang, but more than capable of reducing his Retriever to dust.  A mote in the distance off his starboard bow grew quickly into a Rifter 14 kilometers out.  A thrill of panic ran through him as it started to target him before his warp drive kicked in, whisking him away to the safety of the Intaki Astral Mining Station.

Docking quickly, Erun had his pod transferred to the waiting Tuhvrakh, a Tristan he'd made ready for just such an occasion.  Undocking just as quickly, he aligned and warped back to the ore site, cycling and then overheating his guns and electronic warfare modules in preparation for when he landed.  And what luck!  His opponent had moved closer to his bookmark allowing him to land within less than a kilometer.  Tuhvrakh began targeting as soon as it landed, weapons deploying and e-war bringing the Rifter to a standstill.  Erun's T2 Hobgoblins began working through the Rifter's shields a moment later.  Alarms went off as his own shields were quickly evaporated by a hail of autocannon fire, followed by the ship shaking as the armor began to take hits.  As the Rifter tried to break away it's own armor began to fail, the occasional shot getting through to the vulnerable superstructure beneath.  Almost a third of Erun's 200mm armor plating had been ablated when the Rifter finally succumbed to the hail of fire from his own blasters and the almost mindless fury of his drones.  Heaving a mental sigh of relief Erun halfheartedly attempted to grab the pod of his opponent before it slipped away.  He was distracted however by the arrival of the Griffin he'd forgotten in his excitement!  Staying at range it promptly shut down his targeting capabilities before it began firing on him.  Fortunately Erun had yet to recall his drones, and sensing an attack on their creator had automatically streaked toward the Griffin before they began tearing through it's shields.  It could only withstand a few seconds of the brutal assault before it wisely disengaged and followed pod of it's partner. 

A sense of elation filled him as he realized he had just won his first real battle against another capsuleer!  He posted his congratulations on a good fight into the local chat, a sentiment reciprocated by his opponents before both pilots left the Intaki system.  He scooped out what he could salvage from the remains of the Rifter before heading to dock for some repairs.  Tuhvrakh has lost almost two thirds of it's armor plating, and one of his drones had been damaged at some point in the battle.  As Erun was decanted from his pod and toweling himself off, he realized he was shaking.  Whether from fear or the remnants of the adrenalin from the battle, he was shaking like a leaf in the wind. Tossing his pod fluid soaked towel into the recycling system before he flopped into the now thoroughly worn couch. He'd taken to sleeping there instead of the provided bedding, which was obviously intended for some with a much smaller frame than his own.  Noticing one of his more combat oriented contacts was awake he asked about the problem.  This got him laughed at before they explained the feeling was normal, especially for the first such engagement.  After ending the conversation he looked down at his still shaking hands before making a conscious effort to stop them.  He felt an odd tightness in his chest before finally bursting into a fit of laughter that eventually exhausted him into an easy sleep...

When Diplomacy Fails

A disgusted sigh escaped Erun's lips as he closed the comm on yet another unsuccessful attempt to ingratiate himself with the Reasearch and Development agents of the Amarr Empire... His standings with the theocratic hegemony had deteriorated so far in his assignments with the Gallente and Minmatar governments that even the lowest grade agents of the Amarr refused to even speak with him. His efforts in aiding the Sisters of EVE had cooled tensions to the point the the Amarrian Navy wouldn't shoot him on sight anymore, but he'd apparently been blacklisted in their research community. Looking out over his hangar he made up his mind and decided to pack it up and head home to Intaki. He'd spent the last week or so doing mundane tasks for the few Amarrian agents who would even speak to him, and it had been getting him nowhere quickly.

A quick thought sent a substantial severance package to the small crew of the Cormorant destroyer he'd cobbled together for his work, as well as an order for the vessel itself to be mothballed for potential future use. Another thought sent the random bits and bobs he'd collected to the station's reprocessing facilities. He'd take the resulting  higher end materials like megacyte and zydrine, with him back to Intaki. The piles of low end materials comprising of tritanium and pyerite were simply too large to fit in the Ishkur Assault frigate he would be flying home, so they were quickly shortsold on the market. All of these preparations were completed while Erun was reintegrated with his pod and inserted into Sura K'Yevpeyshaara. The name of his Ishkur was a MCI translation of the ancient Gallentean god of storms who gave the ship it's name. A curious reminder of Erun's interest in cultures both ancient and modern.

Final preparations were completed and after being given the all clear the ship navigated it's way out the bottom of the station before aligning itself on the outgoing gate to the Cleyd system. There would be a short hop through lowsec to get his adrenalin going before the long trip back to Intaki sovereignty. The warp drive came online and the beautifully crafted golden facade of the cathedral-like station shrank to nothing behind him as Erun's thoughts turned to some no less serious, but perhaps happier news. He'd received notification that Suresha Saxon Hawke had resigned his post as CEO and elevated Sakaane Eionell to fill his place. Already the corp channel was filling with ideas on how to celebrate the new Suresha's well deserved promotion, ranging from fireworks and laser shows, to a race through the Viriette constellation in her honor. Mentally grinning to himself, Erun could only laugh at the likely fun and interesting times ahead.

Flying High

Erun relaxed on the sofa of his quarters as he accessed his Neocom through his cranial implants.  Besides augmenting his already above baseline mental abilities, the implants allowed him to access the fluid router network operated and maintained by CONCORD.  The ever-present Local, Corp, and Alliance communications channels were open to him, as well as those run separately by the Intaki Liberation Front and the Intaki Prosperity Initiative.  All was quiet at the moment, one of his corpmates , Anais, had retired for the day after helping him harvest several clouds worth of material.  The material in question, Viridian Mykoserocin, was formed in the intense pressures of asteroids and moons, and was useful in the manufacturing of numerous electronics and weapons. 

Anais was also helping Erun become more familiar with the nuances of combat with other capsuleers.  He had quickly learned that combat against other pilots was very different than combat against the numerous pirate factions, and even the well-trained navies of the four empires.  The empire navies,  and to an extent the pirate flotillas all followed general doctrines that allowed their tactics to become predictable.  This could not be said of capsuleers, who by the nature of their existence are unpredictable and constantly evolving their tactics and strategies.  Anais' first lesson had been to teach Erun how to take advantage of an enemies' speed and turn it against them.

This "Kite and Tackle" technique assumed the user was in a fairly nimble vessel, usually a frigate or destroyer, which suited Erun just fine as they were his preferred size of vessel.  The technique required the user burn away from their target, then once the target was following them, turn and burn back toward them in order to get in close.  This technique was best used by craft utilizing blasters and autocannon which were most effective up close and personal.  Erun and Anais had taken out an Atron class frigate and a Stabber class cruiser to run their exercises, which had gone very well.

A notification from his Neocom roused Erun from his musings on the day, he'd received a message from a recent client.  Specifically the one who had bought all the gas he'd mined that day.  The client was interested in setting up a more direct transaction of materials than the more publicly browsed markets maintained and moderated by the Secure Commerce Commission.  Erun's right eyebrow went up as he ran a shallow background check on his prospective client.  He'd always heard about the "underground" drug production cartels, but he'd never actually been in contact with one of their agents before.  Besides being useful in legal production practices, Viridian Mykoserocin was also used in the manufacturing of the borderline legal Synth Drop Booster, a drug cocktail that that improved the users ability to track objects in space.  Erun had never indulged himself but he had heard horror stories from the capital ship pilots while in nullsec, about stronger variants that had horrible side effects.

Erun shrugged before sending off a positive response to his new client, pleased to have found another source of reliable income.  Erun didn't have any moral quandaries with selling his gas, the drugs produced by the  cartels were not intended for public consumption, being specifically tailored for capsuleer use.  The additional income would supplement what he was getting from his factories based in and around the Intaki solar system.  These were geared toward the production of products necessary for the maintenance of Pilot Owned Structures like robotics and coolant.  This income would do a great deal to alleviate Erun's worries about combat against other capsuleers. The replacement of ships, and getting more costly, clones, had always been the limiting factor for Erun when it came to combat.  Hopefully now he'd be able to get in the thick of things without having to worry about whether he would be able to replace the ship he was flying in...

Some New Homes, Are Also Old Ones...

Erun used the large holoscreen to gaze upon the verdant blue and green planet below him.  The equatorial oceans were too hot to support anything more complex than thermophile bacteria, therefore most life tended to cluster around the more temperate polar regions.  The polar regions also supported the human population of the planet, with towns and villages nestled in the mountains and valleys.  They were a stoic people; calm in their demeanor, collected in their thoughts.  They were also his people.  Though not born on the planet of his ancestors, Erun had traveled far to return to a place he had oft only visited earlier in his career.  His wanderings had finally led him back to areas of space where he had first started his life as an immortal capsuleer.

Having born witness to, and participated in, the endless and often pointless wars that raged in nullsec, he was eager to do something worthwhile once again.  Out there he had been nothing but a cog in the massive war machine of a major alliance.  Even then he was only occasionally able to fly with the fleets due to his inability to fly nullsec fleet doctrines consisting of primarily Amarrian and Matari battleship designs.  Now that he was out he was free to fly the ships he knew and loved best, the nimble but deadly frigates and destroyers of the Gallente and Caldari.  It was one of these that had brought him here, a newly fitted Condor-class frigate that had allowed him to bypass the meager gatecamps that had impeded his path to lowsec. 

In it's hold had been the blueprints he needed to start up mining and production in this mostly lawless area of space.  Blueprints for the production of Tech 1 vessels and and the modules that went with them.  Combat vessels with the incumbent railguns and blasters, rocket and light missile launchers, and all the defensive and electronic warfare modules that go with them.  He was also going to start production on the new Venture-class mining frigate recently developed by Outer Ring Excavations.  He'd experimented with the nimble but highly effective mining vessel while out in nullsec and was eager to see what it could in lowsec environs.

Turning away from the holoscreen Erun walked to the couch before draping himself upon it.  The quarters provided by the station were spartan but cozy, something he hoped to improve on over the coming weeks and months.  Shutting down his Neocom, he pulled up some of the information and procedures used by his new corp before slowly drifting to sleep with a blue-green marble filling his minds eye...

His new home...

Intaki...